Alan Leshner. Image, AAAS.Alan I. Leshner, former CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, joins the Elsevier Materials Science Council as plans to raise the profile of materials science take off.
Elsevier, home of Materials Today, launched the Materials Science Council last September to help communicate the importance of materials science research, recognize researchers working under difficult conditions, and address some of the major issues facing the materials community. Led by former director of the National Science Foundation and current president of Carnegie Mellon University, Subra Suresh, the Council is developing initiatives to benefit the academia, industry and society, and provide solutions to wide-reaching problems affecting researchers.
“The moment for materials science has come,” says new council member Alan Leshner. “[It] is one of the hottest areas in all of science and this is an opportunity for me to learn a great deal and, at the same time hopefully, make a contribution to the advancement of the field.”
Leshner says it will be exciting to be part of the initiative. He brings to the Council extensive publishing experience, having been executive publisher of the journal Science since 2001. Leshner will join Choon Fong Shih, former president of the National University of Singapore and founding president of KAUST in Saudi Arabia and now consultant to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing; Peter Gudmundson, president of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden; and N. Balakrishnan, former associate director of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.
Scientists have an obligation to explain how the work they undertake is useful, used, and understood, believes Leshner. Without public understanding of science, there can be no public support.
The Council is currently working on initiatives designed to highlight the impact of materials science on the modern world, as well as increase the value of sharing of data between materials researchers.
“The Council will provide advice and also a voice for different perspectives on important issues,” says Leshner. “Given how important science and technology are to every aspect of modern life, there is a great opportunity to help advance materials science and all the sciences by helping to explain it to the public.”
“Having worked in public engagement with science for over thirty years, this is an area where I think I may be able to help by sharing some of the lessons learned and the approaches that can be taken,” he says.